Shovel.



UNITED STATES PAT NT OFFICE.

wALLAcE s. JUDD, E CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE AVERY STAMPINGCOMPANY, OF'SAME PLACE.

SHOVEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 657,422, datedSeptember 4, 1900.

Application filed June 20, 1898. Serial No. 683,981. (No model.)

7 To all whom it may concern:

the blade.

Be it known that I, WALLACE S. JUDD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Shovels, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact descrip-- tion,reference being hadto the accompanying drawings.

The invention relates to improvements in shovels, including variousspecific forms of shovels which have been given distinguishing names,such as spadesfi scoops, &c.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of partshereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figurel is a perspective rear view of a shovelembodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal sectional viewof the shovel. Fig. 3 is a front view of the upper part of the shovel,and Fig. 4 is a rear View of a part of said upper end.

The shovel is made from sheet metal. The blade A is provided with acentrally-placed integral shank B, whose lower side edges 1) b arecurved apart and toward thetop edge of A central longitudinal recess ais pressed into the rear side of the blade, extending from the topdownward for nearly onehalf the length of the blade. This recess iscoveredby a plate 0, which has a short tapered integral upward extension0, the edges of which are curved toward each other, as shown. The sidesof the plate are welded to the back of the shovel, and the shank of theblade is bent backward until its side edges are substantially incontact, and its lower curved edges are bent down over the curved edgesof the upward extension 0 of plate 0. This completely closes the recessin the back of the shovel-blade and also forms out of the shank B acomplete tubular socket, into which a handle may be driven at any time.

It is believed that the described shovel is better than the priorshovels, which resemble it in some particulars. Prior shovels have hadthe blade-shank and the shank of the plate extended upward to form twostraps between and to which the handle was secured; but it requiresspecial machinery and skilled workmen t0 attach-the handles to saidstraps, wherefore the handles are always attached before the shovels arecarried from the shop to the storeroom. The result is that it requires alarge amount of room to store any considerable quantity of such shovelsand, besides, the shovel-handles get dirty by standing. On the contrary,the shovel herein described may be stored without the handles, becausealmost any one can drive the handles into the described sockets whenthey are needed, and in the mean time the handles may be kept clean. Thehandles of the strapshovels are, moreover, always more or less rough atthe point where they lie between the straps, whereas the shovel shownand described herein has a smooth socket for the hand of the user tograsp. It is also believed that the shovel described is stronger thanthe shovels which have been made heretofore, because the socket for thehandle is a onepiece tube which embraces the handle at the point wherethe greatest strain is applied.

Having described my invention, I claim--- 1. A shovel-blade having anintegral cylindrical socket and a central depression in the rear sidethereof at the juncture with said socket, the rear edges of said socketflaring downwardly and outwardly above said depression, combined with abacking-plate behind said depression having a tongue lying within saidsocket against its rear side, the edges of said tongue flaring outwardlyand "lying beneath the flared edges of said socket to form a supporttherefor, substantially as described.

2. A shovel-blade A having an integral socket B and a central depressionin the rear side thereof at the juncture of said socket and blade, therear edges 1) of said socket flaring downwardly andoutwardly above saiddepression, combined with a backing-plate C behind said depression andhaving a tongue 0 projecting within said socket, the upper edges of saidtongue lying beneath the flared edges of said socket, said plate 0 beingcurved but in a vertical plane only whereby it unites with said blade toform a substantially-flat .back therefor, substantially as described.

. In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

WALLACE S. JUDD.

Witnesses:

E. L. THURSTON, PHILIP E. KNOWLTON.

